


Second Chances

by decadent_mousse



Series: I Knit So I Don't Kill People [1]
Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Gift Giving, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-09
Updated: 2016-02-09
Packaged: 2018-05-19 05:50:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5956000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/decadent_mousse/pseuds/decadent_mousse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ashley gives Josh a gift.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Second Chances

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written/posted for a prompt for [bravinto](http://archiveofourown.org/users/bravinto/pseuds/bravinto) on Tumblr: Ash/Josh, things you said with too many miles between us. 
> 
> It was also requested I find a way to include gloves in some way, and being the yarn fiend I am, I found a way to make it about knitwear, which has kind of set the tone for this whole series of fic, haha.

Josh wasn't exactly sure what he'd expected to find in his mail when he went into town to pick it up, but a box with Ashley's name and address scribbled in the corner wasn't it.

He took it, along with a stack of other mail that he'd had forwarded from home, back to the lodge with him.  Most of the mail was crap.  Just a bunch of spam mail or invoices for some of the stuff he'd been ordering. And Ashley's mystery box.  The only way to know what was inside it was to open it, but he was kind of reluctant to.    
  
Which was stupid -- it's not like it was a bomb -- but he left it there, unopened on the table, and continued on with his day.  He had a lot to do, and not a whole lot of time left to do it.   
  
Several days went by and he'd been so busy he'd halfway forgotten about the box's existence until his cell phone rang.  He'd expected it to be Chris, or Sam, and he wasn't looking forward to talking to either of them because some corner of his brain was worried that if he talked to them before he was done setting things up he wasn't going to be able to go through with any of it, and that just... wasn't an option at this point, if it ever had been.  Ash, though, he hadn't expected.  She was maybe safe to talk to -- she was probably just wondering if he'd gotten the box.  Five minute conversation, tops.  Then back to work and avoiding everyone as aggressively as he could without making anyone suspicious.   
  
*Or worried,* his brain offered.  *They might be worried about you.*   
  
He ignored it.   
  
He put down the wrench he'd been tweaking things with and answered his phone on the last ring.   
  
"Hey," he said, forcing a friendly, upbeat tone.  It sounded and felt as fake as it was, but everyone had bought it for the past ten months, so it must've been convincing enough.

"Josh!  Hi!  It feels like I haven't talked to you in forever!  How are you?"   
  
"I'm doing alright."   
  
"Yeah?  Really?"   
  
"Yeah, you know.  I mean, I'm... dealing."   
  
"Yeah," she said softly, sympathetically.   
  
He suddenly felt really, really -- *unreasonably, probably* -- angry.     
  
"So, uh, did you... need something?"   
  
"Oh.  Well, your mom said you've been up at the lodge--" He cursed silently and made a mental note to cover his tracks a bit better. "--and it's gotta be freezing up there, and it's almost that time of year, so I sort of... sent you an early Christmas present."

"Well, I have a lot of mail to go through.  I must not have seen it."     
  
"Oh."   
  
"I'll look for it, though."   
  
"Yeah!  Okay!  I really hope it didn't get lost in mail limbo or something."   
  
He felt something dangerously close to guilt well up and stomped it into the ground.  "I hope it wasn't anything expensive."     
  
"No, it's nothing big or fancy or anything.  I mean, if it *did* get lost it's not-- the end of the world or anything."   
  
"Hopefully I'll find it."   
  
"Hopefully," she echoed.   
  
They fell into an awkward silence.  He was about to tell her he had to go when she broke it.   
  
"Josh... what are you doing up there alone?  It's the holidays, why aren't you with your parents, or Chris, or someone?"   
  
"I dunno, I guess I just... miss Hannah and Beth."  His throat tightened and tears stung his eyes.  At least that was an emotion he finally didn't have to fake.  "Being here... it kinda feels like they're still around, you know?"   
  
"Josh--"   
  
"Look, I'm okay, I just... need time.  And space."   
  
"Yeah.  Yeah, okay."   
  
"I'll-- I'll see you around."   
  
"Promise?"   
  
"Yep.  We should all get together some time soon, you know, catch up."   
  
"Yeah, we should."   
  
He hung up.  Took a deep breath.   
  
He never did get around to opening the box.

~

There wasn’t much left of the lodge.  What the explosion itself hadn’t destroyed, the resulting fire had.  His parents hadn’t had it rebuilt yet, and he couldn’t really blame them if they never did.  A lot of the stuff in the underbelly was surprisingly intact, though, including his little workshop.  It figured that all the good memories would get blown up and the bad ones would get left behind.

He didn’t want to be there, but he kind of felt like he had to be.  One last time, at least, before he could move on.  

The place was condemned, and the hallways that were still left were in bad shape and probably dangerous, but after spending… however long he spent… wandering around even worse mine tunnels, it was like a cakewalk in comparison.  Also, he figured if the place did decide to collapse on him it wouldn’t be the  _ worst _ thing ever.  He probably deserved it.  

The room was a little scorched in spots, and there was definitely damage.  A lot of stuff had gotten tossed or knocked off shelves.  A couple of his plans he’d drawn were ripped and torn -- not that he’d planned on trying to save them, anyway.  

And the box was there.  He’d forgotten all about it until he saw it sitting in a corner -- a little battered, but still intact.  What were the odds?

He walked over to it and picked it up.  

Whatever was in it, he hoped it wasn't anything fragile.  Otherwise there was no way in hell it had survived him tossing it from corner to corner of the room over the past couple of months, or getting rattled around by the explosion.  He was almost afraid to open it.  If it was broken, it would just be one more thing he fucking ruined.

He sat at his desk and attacked the tape holding the box shut with a pair of scissors that were bent but still mostly functional.  What he couldn't get off with those, he ripped off with his fingers, and eventually he got the box open.  Whatever was inside, Ashley had been hellbent on making sure stayed inside.  Whatever it was, was wrapped in layers of vaguely festive looking tissue paper, with a letter lying on top.   
  
He decided to read that, first.

  
  
_ Dear Josh, _

_ It's cold this time of year, especially up there.  I know the lodge has heating and everything, but I’ve heard there’ve been some really bad blizzards and stuff over there, so I made something to (hopefully?) help keep you warm.  I know you have plenty of hats and you're never short on sweaters with Chris around.   _

_ I tried to make gloves, originally, but I couldn’t get the fingers right.  Then I tried mittens, but they kept turning out like oven mitts and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be caught dead wearing them, so I just put finger holes.  It’s pretty hard to screw up those.  (But if they still don’t fit, let me know, and I can try to fix them, or make you new ones!)  They won’t keep your fingers warm, but hopefully they’ll at least keep your hands and wrists warm.  :) _

_ I really hope you don’t spend Christmas up there all alone, but if you do, I hope you still have a good one.   _

_ Love,  _

_ Ash _

 

He stared at the letter for a couple of minutes before setting it down and tackling the tissue paper.  

He hadn’t even known knitting was a thing Ashley did, but apparently it was.  The yarn she’d used was a light blue, with a bit of beige, and really soft -- a bit fuzzy, but not scratchy.  He pulled the wrist warmers out of the box and stared at them for a second before putting one on, then the other.  They fit perfectly, somehow, even though he was pretty sure he didn’t remember Ash ever taking his wrist measurements or anything like that.  They weren’t very thick, but they fit snug and he could already feel his arms warming up.  

They were nice.  Really nice.

He rolled the idea over in his head on his way back out of the ruins of the lodge before finally pulling his phone out of his pocket.  He hadn’t talked to Ashley much -- or at, really -- since everything that happened.  Hell, it was possible she wouldn’t even take a call from him.  He called anyway. 

Surprisingly, she answered.  

“Uh, hey.  I-- found your box.”


End file.
